Just Get Through Today

So many of you ask me how I do this and the truth is that it is hard. It is the hardest thing I have ever done and it is the ONE thing that I never thought I could do…ever. I have fallen in love with fitness but I will always struggle with food.

The truth is that I am a food addict…and I will be a recovering food addict for the rest of my life. Each and every single meal, I fight with this little devil inside that says, “That’s not enough.” Old Jenn would look at proper portions and immediately think, “Pssshhht, is that the kiddie size?” Before I even started eating, I wanted my plate to be full. Or when I tried to pack my healthy lunches, I would have the best intentions with a low calorie microwaveable meal (because for some reason I thought THAT was healthy??) and before lunch even came around, I was already planning on what else I could have with it. I like big portions and I cannot lie. Even now, when I go to the bakery to get my coveted weekly bagel, I pick the biggest one.

I have a food addiction. When you have an addiction what do the experts say? They don’t tell you to “cut back” or “cut down.” Yet, the experts tell US if we want to lose weight and get healthy that we need to control our portions: Hey big girl, just have one. Ummm, if I knew how to do that, would my ass be this big??

What I am trying to express is that when you are addicted to food, you have to tell yourself not to overdo it...as you are eating...and then NOT overdo it! I struggle every day, even now. I am always going to want more than I should have. BUT the difference now is that I’m stronger than the urge and I get stronger every time I overcome it. Sometimes I do lose the battle, but I pick myself right back up and I get right back on track. That’s part of winning, too. Don’t let yourself get discouraged, just get right back to it. Every little thing you do makes a huge difference. It’s not always easy, believe me, but you have to want to be healthy more than you want the temporary satisfaction of that one meal. I am so much stronger now, and when I have the urge to eat lots of food, I eat my BAS (Big Ass Salad). So cliché, right? Who wants a big ass salad? I do actually. I love eating healthy. There is something so very satisfying in knowing that you’ve stuffed yourself full of only good things.

Just do your best. Start with breakfast, start with lunch, start with dinner. Just start. You just have to get through today.

Bacon & NSV Thursday!

Bacon & Butter.

Do I have your attention?

So you know how I've been plugging along on this whole weight loss trip? Annnnd, somewhere along the line, it became more about being healthy than trying to get to a certain number?  Okay yes, that whole "I-shouldn't-really-care-about-the-number-part" just recently happened, but it's happening, so stick with me here, I do actually have a point.

Anywho...what I'm also learning is that there are certain things that I should be eating that I have been avoiding because they were low-fat or light.  I was mostly concentrating on eating a certain number of calories and even that took a little while to figure out because it takes some tweaking and trial and error.  I finally found my number this year (1,700) and it seemed to work because I lost 30 pounds this year going from 225lbs to 195lbs.  I arrived in Onederland, and it was amazing!  I lost the weight because I was a freak about planning, preparing, being organized, pretty strict with my calories and I worked out like a crazy person.  That works if you have that kind of time.  And I did have the time this year.  Although I do admit that there were things I missed out on that I didn't make time for because, let's face it, this shizz is exhausting.


The thing is, I don't have that kind of time anymore.  One of my resolutions is that I am going to have less stress in my life.  Yes, I know that I cannot control some stressors, but I am SOOO one of those people that causes my own stress.  So I'm trying to be nicer to myself and just re-freaking-lax.  And, I just started my graduate program and I'm super busy, ya'll.  I'm very excited about the program because when I'm done I'll have my Masters in Sports & Health Management.  I will have an honest to goodness degree in Health Management and I couldn't be more psyched to learn and incorporate health in my overall life plan.


So, because I'm a psycho-planner and just an overall psycho in general (and let's admit you can't just snap your fingers and make that shit go away), earlier this Fall, I started to think about how I was going to keep up the same pace with school starting and the truth is that there was no way.  BUT, I HAVE to continue my healthy journey, there is no negotiating on this.  It is my priority and I will not put it on the back burner.  But how was I going to do it?


I started researching how to make the most of my workouts and the things that continuously came up were high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts.  This is a form of cardio training where you perform cycles of high intensity bursts and low to moderate intensity recovery.  For example, you may jog or walk for 60 seconds and then sprint for 30 seconds and do this for a cycle of 6-8 times.  AND, it only takes about 20-30 minutes of your time.  Some recent studies are showing that these types of workouts compared to hours of cardio at the gym may be more beneficial to us.  There are additional studies showing that too much cardio can actually be bad for you, too.  I am willing to try this, even though I'm a cardio junkie and I am still trying to wrap my head around working out less.


So, back to bacon and butter.  I'm also learning that I need to incorporate more FATS (yeeks!) into my diet.  What?!  But fat has calories???  I mean...it's FAT.  But yes, we need fat in our lives, people.  We're talking good-for-you fats, like almonds, avocado, eggs, and even real butter.  So fat I will eat, I guess.   I mean, it's okay for me to have butter, half & half, bacon AND bacon fat??!!  I kid you not, I'm seriously freaked out by all this!


But, I'm willing to give this a whirl because I honestly need to be able to have more time in my life.  So, stay tuned to see if this little experiment works!  BTDubs, I have had bacon 3 times since Monday.


My NSV this week is a little convoluted but the bottom line is that I'm trying to stress less, workout less and eat more fat because "THEY" say it's okay...we'll see!  Totally shaking my head....


Check out this week's recipe - Garlic Lime Shrimp...with butter sauce.